Humbled
by Little Raven Archangel
Summary: Lily is a rebellious teenager, getting into bad friendships, and shirking responsibilities. Ignoring her parents and disrespecting all creatures around her, Lily has to soon realize that there is more to the world than herself. Chapter 2 up! R
1. Default Chapter

Chapter 1  
  
The Late Fall birds were singing, and the leaves were turning wonderful shades of orange and red, making Stream leaf Abbey look like it had a heavenly glow about it. Blossom was having a jolly good time enjoying the peace and quiet. Suddenly, the quiet was shattered by a crashing noise. You could hear a mole laughing in the background.  
  
"Hurrhurr. thoit's da woiy ta do et! Hurrhurr."  
  
Blossom shook her head. The mole cook had obviously dropped something and her husband, Tur, was making fun of her, good-naturedly of course.  
  
Blossom smiled and turned back to watching the dibbuns. Lily stamped through the door.  
  
"Mother?" she implied sweetly.  
  
"Yes, Lily?"  
  
"Umm. I was wondering if you could tell Papa t'stop singing that stupid song t'me."  
  
"Really?" Blossom turned to her annoyed daughter with her eyebrows raised. "Whatever for, dear?"  
  
"You know how much I 'ate it Mother!" Lily said, raising her voice to above her Mother's "inside voice."  
  
"Lily, what 'ave I told you? Don't."  
  
Lily cut in with a mocking tone, ".raise your voice inside. Yes Mother." Lily rolled her eyes and sighed. Mother can be such a pain sometimes.  
  
Blossom shook her head. "Lily, why d'you dislike."  
  
Again Lily cut her off. "Mother. I 'ate it! It's so babyish, so 'e embarrasses me whenever 'e sings it. Plus it's a lullaby, AN' I'M NOT A BABY!"  
  
Now Blossom understood her daughter's distress, but she didn't like the way Lily was acting, "Lily! I surprised at you! Ye know any mouse in this Abbey would love to have the kind of relationship that your Father is trying t'have with you. Now go t'your room. You're acting like a dibbun who hasn't gotten her way. Just because you are a young lady doesn't give you the excuse for using that tone with me!"  
  
Will popped his head in the doorway as Lily pushed passed him and stormed to her room. "What's with Lily?"  
  
Blossom was still annoyed at her sassy teenage daughter. "Will, wouldn't ye know it. I 'ad t'punish 'er again. That's the fifth time this week!  
  
"Hun, calm down. Don't worry; it's probably just a phase. I'll help ye, let's discuss this over a cup of hot mint tea.  
  
She agreed. "All right. I just hope we don't have to bother the Abbess about this. She seems so busy with the war starting and all."  
  
"I know dear, but she can always find time t'help us with our problems. My what a kind soul she is." Will looked off into the distance, memories of the late Abbot Seddasen flooding his mind. He was the one who raised me, how he was a kind soul too. Will thought to himself.  
  
"Will, dear, I just asked you 'ow you propose to ask the Abbess for help this time?"  
  
Will's eyes studied the blue, cloudless sky. He was deep in thought. "I don't know, but I'm sure she'll be glad t'help us once again." He smiled at his frowning wife. "Hun, come on. She's a teenager, an' no matter what she will always be rebellious. Or, at least she will be until she matures an' realizes that it's not all about 'er."  
  
Blossom nodded. She knew in her heart that Will was right, but she couldn't bring her brain to agree. "I know, but it's so 'ard t'control 'er sometimes." Suddenly Blossom smiled. "Will?"  
  
"Mmm?"  
  
"Do you remember the night she was born?"  
  
"Oh, do I ever."  
  
"Yes, she was crying an' we couldn't get 'er t'stop. Do you remember what I did?"  
  
Will broke into a grin at the thought of his wife running to Abbess Lanzel an' the Badgermother for help. "Finally Abbess Lanzel got 'er to shush by giving 'er some love an' attention. I know."  
  
Blossom smiled, as did Will. "Will? Lily isn't a dibbun any more. That may not work." Blossom looked away as she recapped her conversation with Lily to him. Will's eyes widened, but he said nothing. " See, Will? She doesn't enjoy that song.I don't know what t'do anymore."  
  
"I'll stop singing that song t'her if you think that it's part of the problem." He smiled. "It is just a song."  
  
"Just a song!" Blossom's smile disappeared and was replaced by a scowl. "That song was what kept me and my father together! That song got me through those tough times of utter grief an' loneliness! What Lily doesn't see is that little ditty could 'elp 'er when all 'er friends turn on 'er, or when she's alone in the forest with vermin closing in on 'er from all sides!" She took a deep breath closing her eyes against the painful memories she brought back as she was talking. Blinking back hateful tears, she started again. "That song gave me peace. I want 'er t'be close t'her father, t'have peace."  
  
Will listened intently, and then apologized. "I'm sorry dearest. I didn't realize that the little song meant so much t'you. Still, you must realize that while our Daughter is in the Boundaries of the Abbey, she will always be loved, friends will always surround 'er, and she will 'ave peace. " He embraced his wife's shaking form, comforting her and brushing away tears of pain and hatred from her eyes. "Hush. It'll be all right."  
  
~*~  
  
  
  
From the other side of the wall, Lily listened to her parents' conversation, her eyes wide with bewilderment. Was that what the Lullaby was about; Peace? Lily didn't care. She shook her head to rid it of and guilt, then started to wonder what Friar Homet had fix up for dinner. There was a smell about the Abbey, a smell that could only mean one thing. The coming of winter feast was being prepared, and there was no way that Lily would let a little argument with her mother spoil her fun.  
  
"Lily!"  
  
Lily looked down out of the window next to her bed. "Hi, Rosa!"  
  
Rosa wiggled her headspikes in admiration for one of her best friends. "Let's go bother Friar Homet!" She shouted, a smiled pursed upon her lips. "I just saw 'im carrying a platter o' raspberry pasties that way!"  
  
Lily shook her head sadly. "I can't. Mom punished me."  
  
"Again?" Rosa let out an exasperated sigh. "So? Your mum does that all the time! It doesn't mean we can't go see what else he's making! Please."  
  
Lily looked left, than right. "Well," she looked back to Rosa's pleading, mischievous face. "Okay."  
  
"Good."  
  
Lily grabbed her shawl and headed out the door. "I'll meet you by the fountain in a minute!" she called over her shoulder as she ran out the door.  
  
Blossom and Will looked over the balcony railing at their disobedient daughter. Blossom sipped at her tea, trying to control her temper. Will put a paw on her arm.  
  
"Don't worry. I'll figure something out. And if I don't, Abbess Lanzel is sure to." Will smiled, his eyes kind, shining in the sunlight. "She'll learn, she'll learn." 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
  
Coming back into the kitchen, carrying a large platter of raspberry pasties, Friar Homet met two curious youngsters looking for trouble. Lily's eyes were on the platter he held, but Rosa's were roaming the wondrous piles of cookies, cakes, and breads lining the kitchen shelves. The aroma was enticing. Rosa had to lick her lips just to keep herself from drooling on the floor.  
  
"What are you two trouble makers doin' in 'ere?" The friar's kind voice was unusually stern, causing the two maids to look up and cower. Friar Homet's eyes met theirs, happy and bouncing with excitement. Lily breathed a huge sigh of relief and started to reach for a pasty. Her hand met a spatula. "I don't think so."  
  
"Aww, come on. There are millions of pasties 'ere. Can't I 'ave just one?"  
  
The Friar was never a one to go soft and bend rules, but Lily's persuasive voice and face convinced him. He sighed. "All right, you ruffians. Don't let me catch ye stealin' from me again."  
  
The girls broke into enthusiastic grins. "We won't Friar Homet," they said in unison. He smiled, shooing them out of the kitchen with a swipe of a towel.  
  
"Now go. With you about eatin' all my food there won't be any ready for the feast."  
  
Lily giggled. "That always works," she whispered to her partner in crime, munching on her pasty.  
  
Rosa agreed. "Yes, an' if you finish that before we get to this next door, your parents won't know about it."  
  
Lily froze in her tracks. "What?" she said hoarsely.  
  
"Yeah, your Mum and Father are in there talking t'Abbess Lanzel. Hey, let's listen. We can be like spies."  
  
"Umm, okay."  
  
They pressed their ears to the wall quietly, able to here every word spoken by everybeast.  
  
"Abbess Lanzel, umm."  
  
"What my wife is trying t'say is that we need your 'elp on a family matter. I know you don't 'ave that much experience with teens, seeing that you don't 'ave one of your own, but we thought maybe you remembered something that Mother Tessa taught you about teens. Also because you were in your teens not too long ago."  
  
Abbess Lanzel cleared her throat. "Lily problems?"  
  
Blossom nodded, her eyes tearing. "I don't know what t'do anymore. Will says it's a phase, but I don't remember bein' that rebellious."  
  
"I remember gettin' into trouble, but not like our Lily." Will shook his head. "We think it may 'ave t'do with that little ditty I sing t'Lily that Blossom's father sang t'her."  
  
"So there you go, wot. Stop singing that ditty," Mother Abbess looked as though she had solved the problem.  
  
Will waved his arms frantically, knowing what his wife would do. "No! It's all about peace."  
  
Abbess Lanzel looked confused. "Wot? Did I miss something?" Her ears flopped over her eyes as she pondered over this. "Peace."  
  
"Yes. Peace." Blossom shook her head. "I'll explain some other time. It's a long story. Just bear with us an' believe that we can't stop the song."  
  
Lanzel nodded, "All right. Do go on."  
  
"I 'ad t'punish 'er again. Then I saw 'er sneaking out t'the kitchens after I 'ad sent 'er to 'er room."  
  
"I've got it!"  
  
Abbess Lanzel, Blossom and Will looked over to where the voice was coming from. Acorn the Squirrel, blind from a battle with a Searat captain a long while back, was sitting on a bench in the shadows. "You can give her a specific job that would let her learn the meaning of responsibility, plus keep her out of trouble.  
  
Blossom smiled at the Blind squirrel warrior as he made his way over to the couch she was sitting on. "That might work, Acorn. Do you 'ave any suggestions?"  
  
"No, but Abbess Lanzel might."  
  
The Abbess shook her head, "I'm sorry, I don't. I'll bet that we'll bally find something that she could do that would keep her out of trouble, wot, wot."  
  
Lily looked up as soon as she heard her parents rise from where they were sitting. She scuttled back to her room as fast as possible, with Rosa on her tail.  
  
"Thank you, Abbess Lanzel." Will smiled. "And thank you too, Acorn. Your idea might be just what we needed."  
  
Acorn nodded wisely. "My eyes may not work but I have a keen sense of what's going on around me."  
  
Blossom smiled as she and her husband walked out of the room, a new bounce in their step and a new hope for their rebellious teenage daughter. 


End file.
